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196 Structure and the Book ofZechariah
various texts from the OT and other ancient west Asian sources. 1 The
pattern he presents for Zechariah 9 is:
Conflict—victory (1-7)
Temple secured (8)
Victory shout and procession (9)
Manifestation of Yahweh's universal reign (10)
Salvation: Captives released (11-13)
Theophany of Divine Warrior (14)
Sacrifice and banquet (15)
Fertility of restored order (16-17)
I have two questions in mind: does this holistic approach to
Zechariah 9 (and 10) in any way support—or undermine—our own
results? And do his sub-divisions confirm or call into question those
that we have discovered?
The answer to both questions must be negative. First of all, we note
that he employs the same sort of subjective 'labelling' that we discovered
in many structural studies. 'Conflict-victory' is a rather general
category and it would be difficult to write a salvation prophecy that
could not be labelled in this way. The victory element here is not
prominent. Verse 8 might be correctly translated 'I will stand guard
near my house' and mean 'the temple is secured', but the text is difficult,
and the 'house' might mean the land of Judah: at any rate some
caution is needed before making far-reaching claims. 'Manifestation'
seems gratuitous; vv. 11-13 deal with more than 'release of captives'
and 'salvation' is the subject for the whole of 9.1-11.3 (the word
'save' occurs not here but in 9.16 etc.). The emphasis in 9.16-17 is not
on 'fertility of restored order' but on Yahweh's action on behalf of his
people and the pleasantness of having grain and new wine again, traditional
signs of blessing. We can only suspect that the plan has been
slanted so as to fit the Divine Warrior theory. Moreover, the same criticism
could be levelled against the examples he gives in order to establish
the pattern. Given the fact that the people of Israel believed that
Yahweh intervened in history on their behalf, prayed to him against
their enemies, celebrated victories by processions, by worship and by
sacrifice (with feasting) in the temple, and looked forward to the time
when he would be acknowledged as Lord over all the earth, it is not
surprising that certain types of psalm contain the required elements.
1. Dawn of Apocalyptic, pp. 300-22, esp. 315-16.